Last NFL season, our new SimLabs tool went live to the public. It’s a powerful new feature that allows casual players to build competitive lineups effortlessly — or serious players to leverage their convictions more effectively. This week, we’ve also added the feature of being able to export lineups from SimLabs directly to our models for easy tweaking of lineups.
I broke down some general uses of the tool from an evergreen perspective earlier in the year. Moving forward, we’ll be checking out some suggested starting points for building lineups.
The process is simple: from the SimLabs home screen, first select the field size and desired range of outcomes for your lineups. The field size depends on the contest type, while the “results range” allows you to customize how unique you want your lineups to be.
Then, find the box titled “include players” and type your preferred options — then sit back and let the sims do their thing. You can generate as many or as few lineups as you want, then upload directly to DraftKings to be entered into contests.
For more on what SimLabs is and how it works, check out our user guide.
Alvin Kamara + Bryce Young & Jalen Coker
Kamara is pretty clear the best on-paper running back play this week. He has a firm grasp on the top spot in median and ceiling projections while coming in second in Pts/Sal.
There are a couple of problems with playing him blindly, though. First is his ownership projection. It’s slightly higher than his chances of landing in the optimal lineup. Second is the game script. With the Saints favored by more than a touchdown, he could get a bit of rest if the early scoring comes from other Saints pieces.
Pairing Kamara with lower-owned Panthers pieces solves both of those problems. Both Young and Coker are projecting around 5% ownership, so the joint ownership on this game stack will be fairly low. More importantly, if Young and Coker have a good game, it should be close enough that the Saints keep feeding Kamara.
Coker is getting a lot of buzz this week with both Diontae Johnson and Adam Thielen not in the Panthers lineup this week, but most people won’t pair him with his historically bad quarterback. You don’t need the value at both positions. However, at just $4,400, it wouldn’t take much for Young to smash his salary, so it’s a solid play that allows you to spend up elsewhere.
Check out how our SimLabs Lineup Generator works:
CeeDee Lamb + Bijan Robinson
Lamb and Robinson are both projecting within the top three of their respective positions and correlate nicely from the same game. Yet, I don’t expect much ownership on them as a pair. That’s due to their price tags. Lamb is $8,800, while Robinson checks in at $7,400.
Lamb’s massive target share means he doesn’t need to be stacked with his (somewhat expensive) quarterback, though, so it’s easy to pay down at other positions to fit this stack in. Both players also benefit from the same game script, that being the favored Falcons playing from in front.
The Cowboys have been horrible against the run/running backs all season, while Atlanta ranks 24th in DVOA against the pass. Everything lines up pretty nicely here, and Lamb is the #2 wideout in optimal-projected ownership, according to SimLabs.
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Matthew Stafford + Jaxon Smith-Njigba
I want some exposure to the Rams-Seahawks game, and how I get it depends on the injury report. If Puka Nacua suits up, I’ll roll with Stafford at quarterback and let SimLabs figure out which Rams pieces to stack him with.
There’s a chance that Stafford gets there relative to his price point without bringing Nacua or Cooper Kupp along for the ride since both are expensive and could share targets. Or, one or both have big games along with their quarterback.
On the other side, Smith-Njigba has emerged as the clear #2 wideout in Seattle. That makes him the #1 this week, as DK Metcals is going to miss for the second week. In Week 8, JSN drew more targets than the rest of Seattle’s wide receivers combined. SimLabs could obviously include other Seattle pieces, but it wouldn’t have to.
If Nacua is out, I’d pivot to JSN and Cooper Kupp, with the option for either — or neither — quarterback left up to the sims.
